Schemes for storing dust pans on brooms during periods of nonuse as well as during sweeping operations are well known and are attractive because the dust pan always is at hand where and when needed. However, many of the prior proposals are not adaptable to push brooms, and those which are suited to those brooms are either inconvenient to use or require modification of the standard, commercially available push brooms which most people find impractical or impossible to execute.
The object of this invention is to provide an improved scheme for storing a dust pan on a pushbroom which is economical to implement, requires only a very simple modification of the conventional broom, and which allows the pan to be mounted and dismounted quickly and easily. According to the invention the new scheme employs a special dust pan includng a pan portion having an open top, at least in its central region, and a rear wall containing an aperture sized to freely accept the broom handle, and a handle portion which includes a channel section axially aligned with the aperture in said back wall and which also freely receives the broom handle. The channel section opens downward, is spaced from the rear wall of the pan portion a distance greater than the diameter of the broom handle, and is joined to the pan portion solely by an upright member which is arranged to lie along one side of the broom handle. This kind of dust pan mounts on the broom handle, with the channel section extending around the upper surface of the handle and the bottom wall of the pan portion underlying the handle. The pan is retained in place by the joint action of the broom handle and a pair of flanking retainer members which are carried by the brush head, and which are spaced slightly to the rear of the handle. In effect, the retainers and the handle define a gap into which the bottom wall of the pan portion is inserted, and thereby serve to capture and hold that part of the dust pan.
Mounting and dismounting of the dust pan requires only a series of easily executed lateral, pivoting and sliding movements relative to the handle, and all of these movements are of limited extent and none requires the exertion of any appreciable force. Therefore, storage and retrieval of the pan are facilitated. Moreover, since installation of the retainer members is the only modification of the push broom which is needed, and these members may simply be nails or screws driven into the brush head, or angles attached to the head by screws or nails, it is apparent that the invention makes practical utilization of any of the various push brooms available on the commercial market. Finally, it will be noted that the dust pan is carried in such a way that its presence during sweeping operations does not impair the effectiveness of the broom.